Fund Assets Up, But Inflows Fall

The combined assets of the nation’s mutual funds increased by $265.3 billion, or 2.6% to $10.281 trillion in November, according to the Investment Company Institute’s (ICI) survey of the mutual fund industry.

What the ICI terms “long-term funds’ – stock, bond, and hybrid funds – had a net inflow of $20.82 billion in November, down about 20% from $24.73 billion the month before.

Stock funds posted an inflow of $11.30 billion in November, compared with an inflow of $12.73 billion in October. Among stock funds, so-called world equity funds (US funds that invest primarily overseas) once again dominated, posting an inflow of $11.47 billion in November, though that was down slightly from October’s $11.92 billion inflow. In contrast, funds that invest primarily in the US had an outflow of $169 million in November, versus an inflow of $808 million in October.

Hybrid funds posted an inflow of $2.20 billion in November, compared with an inflow of $1.60 billion in October. Bond funds had an inflow of $7.31 billion in November, compared with an inflow of $10.41 billion in October. Of that, taxable bond funds had an inflow of $5.21 billion (down from an inflow of $8.17 billion in October), and municipal bond funds had an inflow of $2.10 billion in November, roughly equal to October’s $2.24 billion inflow.

Money market funds had an inflow of $55.01 billion in November, with funds offered primarily to institutions representing the lion’s share ($45.34 billion).